Missouri Orders Planned Parenthood To “Cease and Desist” Chemical Abortions

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a cease-and-desist order last week to Planned Parenthood formally prohibiting the abortion giant from performing chemical abortions in the state. The order advises the company to implement a “valid” health and safety plan to protect women and treat complications from abortion-inducing drugs, as required by state law. AG Bailey cited Planned Parenthood’s “uncontroverted track record” of disregarding Missouri health and safety laws as the reason for the temporary restraining order, which makes it a felony for the organization to dispense the high-risk drugs.

In November 2024, Missouri made abortion a constitutional “right” in the state, which nullified the state’s near-total abortion. Since then, Planned Parenthood has resumed surgical abortions at several Missouri facilities. In response to the order, Planned Parenthood officials have indicated that its Missouri facilities are not currently offering chemical abortions and won’t do so until the complication plans are approved.

However, AG Bailey stated in a press release that the order is due to Planned Parenthood’s “documented history” of “repeated and knowing” violations of state law. He noted the organization has “admitted under oath” to knowingly “refusing to file required complication reports” and that investigations had discovered other violations, such as failing to comply with informed consent laws and to sterilize surgical instruments.

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“Any suggestion that there is no risk of Planned Parenthood violating [the complications plan] law is illusory,” AG Bailey wrote in the order. AG Bailey illustrated Planned Parenthood’s reputation regarding Missouri law in the following list of violations:

• “Blatant Noncompliance with State Law: Dr. David Eisenberg, former medical director at Planned Parenthood, admitted in a deposition that for 15 years, he and others at Planned Parenthood facilities in Missouri refused to file required complication reports, despite knowing it was the law, because they did not expect the state to enforce the law.”

• “Failure to Report Complications: In 2018, Dr. Colleen McNicholas, an abortion provider for Planned Parenthood, admitted under oath that the organization failed to file legally required complication reports.”

• “Unsafe Medical Practices: In 2018, state health inspectors shut down a Planned Parenthood facility in Columbia after discovering it had been using moldy medical equipment on women for months. They found equipment containing a ‘blackish gray substance’ identified as ‘mold’ as well as another substance that the clinic staff identified as ‘most likely bodily fluid.’ Planned Parenthood clinic staff admitted that they had ‘identified the problem’ of mold ‘a couple of months previously’ but that the physician, McNicholas, had ‘continued to use the machine on patients after they identified the issue.’”

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes that 4.6 percent of women who use the chemical abortion drug Mifepristone, dispensed under the Mifeprex label, are forced to seek emergency medical attention, and that one percent of women need surgical intervention, AG Bailey stated the required complication plans are essential to protect women from harm. Thus, Missouri officials said that the order represents a “duty” to protect women and serves as a “forcing function” to stop “Planned Parenthood’s blatant disregard of the law and the safety of women.”

Mifepristone, taken in combination with misoprostol, forms the two-drug regimen that causes a chemical abortion. Under the Mifeprex label, Mifepristone comes with a “black box warning,” which is the FDA’s strongest warning for drugs with major risks. The medication guide advises abortive mothers to expect cramping, vaginal bleeding, and that they may potentially see blood clots and tissue. Currently the FDA reports there have been 36 deaths and 4,252 adverse events reported associated with Mifepristone since its 2000 approval.

Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Chemical abortions harm women physically and emotionally and cruelly kill defenseless children in the womb. The abortion industry has an agenda of death that disregards the life of unborn children and the health of their mothers.”